My practicum site was a dental office called Peterson & Reddy Dental Care. I found the site through my site supervisor, who is a family friend from home. Since I already knew about him and his career, I asked to intern at his practice, in which he owns. I think it is really important to network in order to find a practicum site in the future. For this practicum in specific, one could reach out to their own dentist or orthodontist to try to intern at their offices. This is probably the easiest way to reach out to a supervisor that is a dentist, since they would already know you a little. Reaching out to local dentists and asking to shadow them would also be a good approach. All of the dentists I have met have encouraged me to shadow at their offices before and are usually pretty welcoming. The site supervisor was letting me come in as much as I wanted and was very knowledgeable.
The tasks I performed at this office were cleaning dental tools, preparing rooms for the next patients, checking patients in/out, and assisting the dentist when needed. He often explained to me the procedure he was doing and what was going on, which was very useful for my own knowledge. He also let me observe various dental procedures such as taking X-rays, filling cavities, fitting patients for retainers, placing dental implants, and what to check for during routine cleanings.
This internship experience made me aware of how precise a dentist has to be, since patients’ mouths are very small in comparison. I learned how important the relationship between patients and dentists are, as dentists have to simplify complicated procedures to their patients. They also have to recommend the best possible treatment for their patients, which can be highly dependent on how much money they have to spend on dental care and if they have dental insurance or not. Many patients opted for the cheapest treatments, but Dr. Peterson was trying to recommend procedures that lasted the longest and would not need maintenance. I really appreciate the time and consideration Dr. Peterson put into his work, as he’s seen many of his patients for years; his patients really trust him.
Before this experience, I was already on the pre-dental track, and I still am. This internship is helping to solidify my plans for post undergraduate plans. I still want to do more shadowing and maybe try to be a dental assistant for a year before applying to dental school. I need to put a little bit more time into shadowing and interning at dental offices to see if I can really see myself do it for a career sometime. I know dental school is a massive time commitment and very expensive. This internship was a positive experience for my future career plans, as it made me even more interested in dentistry. I especially want to explore some of the different specializations of dentistry, such as oral surgery, orthodontics, pediatric dentistry, and periodontics. My site supervisor, Dr. Peterson recommended that if I did go into dentistry, that I specialize, as there are many general dentists right now. Specializing could give me an opportunity to find a well-paying job more easily. Many general dentists are pulled into larger corporations where they are overworked and underpaid, comparable to dentists in private practice. It will be interesting to see how different, or similar, the field of dentistry will be in 10 years or so. With this, I will try to do something this summer related to dentistry, especially as my junior year of college is already approaching.